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[Oddysee]

Hi there, I'm new to this forum but not quite so new to the game.  I discovered DF about a year ago, played it once then started playing it again a few days ago.  I gotta say, I really, really like it.

Anyway, I have been unable to get the metal industry up and running because put simply, I don't have any apart from the few bars I have from trades.  I haven't found any ores while mining at all.  Frankly it's getting kinda frustrating. 

So with that said, how sustainable is a Fortress with no metal?  Can I make do with bars and metal items I get from trades?  Also, are ores catagorised as stone in the Stocks screen? 

[Urist Imiknorris]

a) No metal isn't all that hard. You just have to focus on not letting enemies get to you. I recommend a large force of marksdwarves with wooden/bone crossbows and bolts.

b) Yes, you can make do with caravan metal. Just make sure to order lots of anvils - they melt down into a full bar.

c) Ores are listed under stone on the stocks screen.

[Chattox]

Hi there, I'm new to this forum but not quite so new to the game.  I discovered DF about a year ago, played it once then started playing it again a few days ago.  I gotta say, I really, really like it.

Anyway, I have been unable to get the metal industry up and running because put simply, I don't have any apart from the few bars I have from trades.  I haven't found any ores while mining at all.  Frankly it's getting kinda frustrating. 

So with that said, how sustainable is a Fortress with no metal?  Can I make do with bars and metal items I get from trades?  Also, are ores catagorised as stone in the Stocks screen?

It shouldn't be too hard to keep a fortress going without metal. Lots of cage traps and drawbridges for defence, and trade enough metals to make a small military squad for emergencies, and you should be alright.

Also, I believe unprocessed ores are categorised as stone in the stocks screen, yes.

Double also, welcome to the forums, here is your complimentary cat biscuit

[KtosoX]

You can play without metal. It's hard, yet playable.
But if you want embarks with more metal, decrease the mineral scarasity option at world gen to about 1000.

[hjd_uk]

Trade for bars or build lots of Stone-Fall traps, Cage Traps and retracting-pit-fall traps to harvest the precious Goblinite.

[FrisianDude]

Or floor-traps.

[Oddysee]

Thank you for the prompt answers, warm welcome and cat biscuit. 

How easy would it be for me to change my single military squad of 10 melee fighters into a squad of marksdwarves?  I assume it would just a be a case of changing their uniform setting, removing the weapon rack/armour stand from their training room and replacing it with a range target?

[FrisianDude]

Yeah, just change the uniform. However, I'd place multiple archery targets so multiple Dwarfs can practice their shooting at the same time. Do note however that practice eats through your bolts.

[Shinotsa]

I'm not positive if you even have to remove the rack/stand as I think it'll be fine to have both them and the target for cross training in close combat so that when they run out of bolts and start hitting things with their -cat bone crossbow- that they won't immediately trip over their feet and tumble head first into whatever traps you have made.

Just as a heads up though I have heard (and seen for myself) that a squad of marksdwarves is notoriously hard to train. Some people have certain scheduling tricks or something to that effect, but I've always found there's no substitute for a disarmed, but not disarmored goblin in a pit surrounded by fortifications for training. Added points for making bolts from your fallen enemies to fire their comrades.

On that note I'd make sure you have access to a lot of wood or have a good breeding operation going to make sure you're not going to run out of bolts. The good news is that even bone bolts stand a chance against goblins since bolts tend to snake their way into unarmored spots.

[Oddysee]

Yeah, just change the uniform. However, I'd place multiple archery targets so multiple Dwarfs can practice their shooting at the same time. Do note however that practice eats through your bolts.

Hmm, that's a concern considering I was planning to use bone for the bolts and that's only 5 bolts per bone according to the wiki, as I don't really want to use up my wood.

Also, another small question about war animals.  I have trained 5 war dogs at the moment.  To use them effectively, do I simply need to assign them to my military dwarves?

My apologies if it seems I'm turning this into a "newby question" thread.  But everyone has been extremely helpful so far. 

[Chattox]

I've never been able to figure out ranged fighting in fortress mode. Axes all the way

[Shinotsa]

Don't worry about asking for help, the wiki is great but it's kind of like trying to live life by reading wikipedia. Too complex, too much blood, vomit, and insanity... ahem. Anyway.

I usually assign war dogs to a pasture right inside my front gates so that they can be the last line of defense in a siege and the first line of defense in the case of a snatcher or ambush. Sure I lose a lot, but assigning dogs to dwarves has the negative effect of giving them a bad thought when they die. I once decided to award my strongest dwarf, who had felled a hill titan, 2 forgotten beasts, and a bronze colossus on his own with 10 war dogs. Well he goes ahead and runs ahead of his squad next siege with his pets. Though his pets all die he avenges them and later I, while thinking how awesome of a story the combat logs made (those dogs really did try their best against the trolls) notice that someone went berserk. Lo and behold, minutes later my 100 dwarf fort was a fine mist on the walls.

So pastures are my approach to that problem, though I'm sure there might be another way.

[Wannazzaki]

Next worldgen, generate from advanced perameters and set mineral scarcity to a lower number, i tend to set it to 100 meaning my worldgens have the highest possible % of metal to stone tiles.

[Shades]

How easy would it be for me to change my single military squad of 10 melee fighters into a squad of marksdwarves?  I assume it would just a be a case of changing their uniform setting, removing the weapon rack/armour stand from their training room and replacing it with a range target?

If your melee fighters are already armed and trained with reasonable weapons it might be worth keeping them as is then just recycling the enemy army's arms and equipment to boost your numbers.
If you have no metal at all then you won't get the initial weapons for this so crossbows or even traps might be your best bet.

[FrisianDude]

Yeah, just change the uniform. However, I'd place multiple archery targets so multiple Dwarfs can practice their shooting at the same time. Do note however that practice eats through your bolts.

Hmm, that's a concern considering I was planning to use bone for the bolts and that's only 5 bolts per bone according to the wiki, as I don't really want to use up my wood.

Also, another small question about war animals.  I have trained 5 war dogs at the moment.  To use them effectively, do I simply need to assign them to my military dwarves?

My apologies if it seems I'm turning this into a "newby question" thread.  But everyone has been extremely helpful so far. 

Bone bolts are ideal, really, for practice. You'll just have to keep a decent supply of slaughtered animals which shouldn't be too hard.